Surnames?


Why does pretty much every child in this take the halliwell surname as opposed to their respective father's? Seems all a bit too feminist.

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Well, technically, they all took the name of one of Penny's husbands. Otherwise they'd all still be called Warren.

But, anyway, Prue, Piper and Phoebe didn't grow up with their father, he disappeared from their lives when they were younger. Paige was adopted so took her adoptive father's name and when it came to Piper's children, Leo agreed they should share the surname associated with the Charmed Ones so no demons would be in any doubt where they came from.


Babies kill TV shows!

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Bingo! Prue, Piper, and Phoebe grew up without a father. Even if he had stayed I think they would have kept the Halliwell name because of the power associated with it. But, Piper does name her son after Leo, since Wyatt is Leo's last name.

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Rather than it being too feminist, assuming they should take their father's surname instead of their mother's seems a bit too masculine to me.

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Yep. Also, they were raised Wiccan, which, at least in the real world, has a God and a Goddess, and some Wiccans even worship the Goddess exclusively (I'm one of them). But I don't think She was ever mentioned on the show.

So the family probably wouldn't even think in patriarchal terms.


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I never got the last name thing either. They should have had their dad's name since he was married to their mother when they were each born.

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Depends what you mean by "should". Originally, they did. Victor's name was Halliwell.

Later, when it was re-written, their mother didn't change her name when she married Victor and become Bennett. Her children, abandoned when they were young by Victor, would have her name instead of his.


Babies kill TV shows!

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OK maybe "should" was not the word I should have used. The writers never explained why the rewrite (among a few other regarding the dad).

My point was what people usually share the same last name with the father of their mother unless there is a reason otherwise. I was referring to their parents being married at the time of their births.

But not all situations are the same and there could be a good reason for kids not to share their dad's name.

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That's what I'm saying though. Patty didn't take Victor's name in their marriage, so neither did her kids.

In the case of Charmed is more easily explained that they keep the "family" name due to the magical reputation.


Babies kill TV shows!

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Oh Ok thanks for the reply. I understand now.

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To my knowledge, then the name Halliwell comes from their grandfather Allen Halliwell.
Penny chose to keep that last name to honor him after he died at a young age in the late 60s.
Don't know if that is feministic, when a woman chose to honor a man and thereby makes sure that his family name will survive.

She could has casted that name away and used her own last name, but then they all would had been named Johnson instead.
Does not have that much "umpf" to it, if you actually would had ended up with Prue Johnson, Piper Johnson and Phoebe Johnson now would it?

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That's why I find it so funny that Penny told Piper that Halliwell women keep their maiden name when SHE didn't! To our knowledge the only Halliwell matriarchs are Penny, Patty and Piper. Not a lot of power when the Charmed Ones called on them. They should've called on the Warren witches to get rid of the Source and welcome new babies into the family.

And if you actually stick to the canon, Penny was *never* a Halliwell because Patty didn't become one until she married Victor Halliwell, as the opening credits proclaimed in 'Thank You for Not Morphing', so as you said unless the original Charmed Ones' last name was Johnson... Truly, if Penny was really telling the truth, Charlotte and Melinda Warren's names should've been Charlotte Halliwell and Melinda Halliwell. Impossible in Season One when Victor's name was Victor Halliwell so it should've been impossible in the Charmedverse.

To top it off, not only was Penny's maiden name Johnson, but her mother's maiden name was Baxter, so not even her mother kept her maiden name.

It all says that Penny was lying, and Piper should've known better and had the option of becoming Piper Wyatt or even Piper Halliwell-Wyatt, either of which I think she would've preferred.

I've always thought that Brad Kern screwed with the surname canon by using a different actor to played Victor with a totally different name leading to Halliwell women supposedly keeping their maiden names because he was already thinking of a child named Wyatt Halliwell who would be half-whitelighter and have a prophecy of his own making him even more powerful than the three most powerful witches the world had ever known all by himself rather than be a daughter named Melinda Wyatt or Melinda Halliwell-Wyatt.

Like we keeps saying - Inconsistency, your name is definitely Charmed!

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The name change came long before the actor change.

They referred to Penny as "Penny Halliwell" in season 2 before James Read took over the role of Victor in season 3.



Babies kill TV shows!

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I believe you, but I'm curious. Which episode?

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In "Pardon My Past", we see the family tree with the names written as 'Penelope Johnson' and everybody after her being Halliwell due to her husband 'Jack Halliwell'.

http://i.imgur.com/F4zUbg5.png

Looking for the screenshot I had no idea the Charmed Ones' grandfather was called Jack, I thought his name had always been Alan. That must've been another change. Lmao.

I also notice Victor's name is Jones in this episode, rather than Bennett. 

Dear god, these errors are like a can of worms.


Babies kill TV shows!

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Those crazy family trees! Obviously no one was supposed to see them because they are *so* full of errors it's ridiculous. One of my friends found a place where a mother was born *after* her daughter!

And Victor going from Victor Halliwell in Season One to Victor Jones in Season Two to Victor Bennett in Season Three is hilarious, just like Jack-or-is-it-Allan Halliwell.

But even that proves that Grams was lying when she said Halliwell women keep their maiden name since she didn't. Or was it Jack-or-is-it-Allan's mother or sister who did? Wouldn't it be funny if *that's* where the power came from - Jack-or-is-it-Allan - and not Penny?

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[deleted]

Is a guy watching a show with female protagonists really complaining about female equality?

-
Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

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